Simchat Torah!

Tonight begins Simchat Torah, where we read the end of Deuteronomy straight through the beginning of Genesis. In our synagogue, we unwrap as many Torah scrolls as it takes to encircle the entire sanctuary (I think it's about two-and-a-half); one rabbi reads the end of Deuteronomy; the cantor chants the beginning of Genesis, and then we re-roll the scrolls and dance with them.

I asked one of our rabbis, Rabbi New Guy (who needs a different alias), why it is that the end of Deuteronomy and the end of the Jewish calendar year don't exactly coincide. Of course, there's no one answer, but he suggested that it has, in part, to do with the parashot for each Shabbat and such, and also with hiding the seams between years.

My thought is that it's like an elided cadence in music; one part of the music begins before the next ends, creating a seamless transition into a new theme instead of an abrupt stop and restart.

I love Simchat Torah.